Understanding About Stress & How to Deal with Stress

Stress is a natural response factor, which is in-built into our systems to help cope with our surrounding environment & keep us safely away from any possible dangers. The stress response is simply part of our ‘Fight or Flight’ & relates to the sympathetic branch of our Autonomic Nervous System. It is there for survival purposes, but what once would have been to help us escape from a sabre toothed tiger, in our modern lives our brain links other stressors into the mix & prolonged stress can lead to depletion of our body resources & affects our wellbeing. The Collins dictionary’s definition of ‘stress’ is “a feeling of tension & anxiety, because of difficulties in our lives”.

3 Stages of Stress ~ Alarm, Resistance & Exhaustion

The alarm stage of stress is triggered when faced with a stressor (something the brain recognises as either frightening or puts us under pressure). At that stage the hypothalamus, pituitary gland & adrenal glands are activated, resulting in the production of cortisol, noradrenaline & adrenaline.

If a stressor continues to be present & our personal stress reaction continues, then we enter into a degree of resistance stage. The hypothalamus in the brain, produces endorphins allowing us to maintain a state of ‘Alert’ around the stressors & gradual depletion starts to set in.

If the stressor is still present, gradual depletion continues & the body is unable to maintain it’s normal functioning & the third stage of exhaustion comes into play.

In stressful situations the production of adrenaline, noradrenaline & cortisol leads to an increase in heartbeat; increase in breathing rate; sugar in the form of glucose is released from the liver to give us increased energy for action; sweat is produced to cool the skin down whilst our muscles work; our senses become more alert; our pupils dilate; the immune system works hard to help the body fight any anticipated infections or wounds; & the muscles tense for action.
It’s principal is to get oxygen, blood & energy to our lungs & muscles so we can have the extra resources we need to ‘Fight or Flight’ ~ either tackle or run from the sabre toothed tiger! But alongside that our digestion shuts down, to prevent us from needing to eat or process food because it needs us to take immediate action around the sabre toothed tiger! Therefore our digestive system also gets stressed during prolonged exhaustion stage.

What is an Antidote to Stress?

By learning how to relax deeply, fully & completely on a regular basis the natural calming influence of our parasympathetic nervous system can have a healing effect on stress symptoms.
This phase of rest & repair is necessary to maintain healthy balance in the body, to: ~

· Restore energy, to grow.

· Healthy natural energy supply is replenished.

· Body tissues repair & grow.

· Heart action slows down to a healthy rate.

· Breathing slows down becoming deeper & calmer.

· Digestive system activates to absorb nutrients.

· Nervous system finds rest & recuperation

· Muscles relax

· Excessive mental activity slows down

· Positive emotional states arise ~ feelings of wellbeing

· Energy restores

· Sleep improves

Learning Self-Hypnosis; practising mindfulness; practising Yoga or Tai Chi; practising meditation & deep relaxation ~ are all positive things that we can all learn to do & introduce into our daily lives to help us help ourselves along the way.

These all support the parasympathetic nervous system & bring about it’s calming, healing response to us physically, mentally & emotionally.

If you have been suffering from stress for a prolonged time, then Hypnotherapy & other talking therapies can help you reduce the impact of any mental or emotional stress factors, enabling you to be able to reach deeper states of relaxation.

Learning to relax is a practise, which takes patience, practise & time to accept & allow the body/mind that quiet time of doing nothing in a physical sense ~ but so much in a healing context!

Contact me today if you would like to know more about relaxation, meditation, or to be taught Self-Hypnosis & put stress into your past, with better coping strategies into your present day & future life ahead of you now.